Artwork by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith,  Windmill, Holland

F.M. Bell-Smith
Windmill, Holland

watercolour
signed lower left; dated 1893 on a remnant of past framing backing paper (attached to the reverse of the current framing)
12.5 x 24.5 ins ( 31.8 x 62.2 cms ) ( image )

Auction Estimate: $2,000.00$1,500.00 - $2,000.00

Price Realized $1,440.00
Sale date: February 24th 2016

Provenance:
The Collectors’ Gallery, Calgary
Private Collection, Calgary
A picturesque watercolour of a rural windmill in Holland. Typical of Bell-Smith's work in watercolour, the impressionistic scene evokes a heavy calm as if fog has just lifted from the countryside depicted. Reminiscent of European counterparts, the mood of the environment is captured in the muted watery colours and loose working of the painter's brush.

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Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith
(1846 - 1923) OSA RCA

Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith (1846-1923) was born in London, England and died in Toronto, Ontario. His earliest training was under his artist father. He attended the South Kensington School of Art under Alexander Hamilton until his family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec in 1867. Later, he studied in Paris at the Academie Colarossi under Joseph-Paul Blanc, Gustave Courtois, and Edmond-Louis Dupain. The artist arrived in London, Ontario in 1881 where he was appointed Art Director of Alma College (St.Thomas) and, the following year, Drawing Master at Central Public School. In 1888 he moved to Toronto where he was named principal of the western branch of the Toronto Art School. He continued to serve at Alma College until 1901. Bell-Smith was a founding member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the Ontario Society of Artists, and the Western Art League. He was elected an Academician in the Royal Canadian Academy and played important roles in many local and national artistic associations. His work was very popular in his lifetime: he painted portrait, genre, and landscape subjects in both oil and watercolour in the impressionistic, picturesque, and sublime styles of the last century. Bell-Smith also won many international honors in his career.